An answer is urgently needed. The deadline of August 31, 2021, as the expected date for the Americans and allies to leave Afghanistan, is close even if there are still thousands of desperate Afghans and foreigners amassed at Kabul airport. It is no coincidence that Biden told the nation last Sunday that the evacuation would be "hard and painful" and that much could still go wrong. US troops, the president said, could have stayed beyond the August 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation. A statement welcomed by the allied countries operating at the Kabul airport but which was not liked at all by the Taliban who threatened to react heavily to this possibility.
An administration official told Reuters yesterday that Biden would decide within 24 hours whether or not to extend the final withdrawal date of his troops.
In addition to the need to evacuate thousands of Americans, citizens of allied countries and Afghans who have worked with US forces, Department of Defense officials said it would still take days to transport the 6.000 troops employed to manage the airlift.
Some Biden advisors have strongly opposed moving beyond August 31st. Biden could, therefore, give the answer already during the next G7 today.
US Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters yesterday after an intelligence briefing on Afghanistan that he did not believe in a full evacuation by Aug.31, given the number. of Americans who have yet to be evacuated.
A British government spokesman said British evacuations will not be able to continue once US troops are gone. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that more time is needed.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that everything will have to be decided at the G7 summit.
Meanwhile, the chaos of the airport has also disrupted aid shipments. The World Health Organization said tons of medical supplies were blocked because Kabul airport was closed to commercial flights.
The G7
Today's British-led G7 could produce a joint statement on evacuation from Afghanistan and the need for an inclusive political solution that protects the fundamental rights of all Afghans.
The US State Department commented in a note the day before the summit: "Leaders agree that the international community's relations with the Taliban will depend on their actions, not their words". He will also talk about the fight against terrorism, humanitarian efforts, and the migration of refugees at the high level.
The Italian position
The use of American bases on Italian soil, such as Sigonella, has been approved for the complex evacuation operation that Washington is managing. Draghi will express his strong concern for all Afghan civilians who will remain in the country even though he considers the G7 a "maimed" summit (China, Russia and India are missing) to decide on the future of the country under the leadership of the Taliban.
According to the Farnesina, deterrents must be found to the retaliation and violence of the Taliban against Afghan citizens who worked with the previous government and who will not be evacuated. Then it is necessary to outline an overall strategy that obliges the Taliban to accept minimum respect for human rights and a firm condemnation of terrorism.
Draghi will therefore aim to reiterate that it will be necessary to anticipate the G20 to next September, laying the foundations in today's G7 to form a first approach to consensus which, however, will have to expand to other geopolitical contexts, from Moscow to Beijing, and which in the first place provides the non-recognition of the Taliban regime as a state entity and, secondly, the freezing of all international aid funds if some basic human rights conditions are not recognized. For this last point, the position of Russia and China is decisive, as it is known that they have considerable interests in undertaking privileged relations with the nascent Taliban-led government.